Showing events on this day in years past that shaped history... just, not our history.

Friday, February 8, 2013

March 28, 1854 - France and Britain join Eastern War

As the nineteenth century showed the
continued waning of the Ottoman Empire, the "Eastern Question" asked
what to do with the "Sick Man of Europe." In its heyday, the
empire ruled from the ancient Byzantine capital of Constantinople over lands
stretching from the Balkans to Mesopotamia across North Africa and the Iberian
Peninsula. While the Ottomans seemed to maintain eternal war with Austria
and Russia over influence in the Balkans, nations such as Spain and France
pushed back its control to Tunisia. In 1832, the Greeks won their
independence with aid from France, the United Kingdom, and, especially,
Russia. The Ottomans faced further revolts from the Janissaries as well
as a rebellion by Muhammad Ali, the Wali of Egypt. In the 1830s, Ali's
wars secured independence for Egypt and Sudan and then marched outward, seizing
Syria and Arabia. Ali was finally defeated by military action backing up
the Convention of London, where the major powers of Europe agreed to make him
hereditary ruler of Egypt in exchange for his conquered lands.

Another challenge to the Ottomans
came when Napoleon III, newly upon the throne of France, gave a show of force
and demanded to be made the defender of Christian citizens in empire. The
Ottomans refused, citing the 1774 Treaty
of Küçük Kaynarca with Russia, which named the Tsar the defender of Orthodox
Christians, a position which had been used to step in on affairs involving
Greece. Eventually the Ottomans caved to Napoleon's demands, inciting
Nicholas I of Russia to move troops to the border on the Danube. When the
sultan rejected (at Britain's advice) a new treaty granting Russia control of
Orthodox as France had authority over Catholic Christianity, Nicholas invaded
the Ottomans' Danubian provinces. After having ruled Russia for nearly
thirty years, serving as the "Policeman of Europe" and aiding in the
suppression of the Revolutions of 1848, Nicholas felt that he had earned the
conquest.

The rest of Europe, however,
convened at Vienna, hoping to find a diplomatic solution that did not
contribute to the expansion of Russian power. On the surface, Nicholas
agreed with their new treaty, but he began maneuvers under the table toward
France, promising them North Africa in exchange for bringing down the Ottoman
Empire. When the Sultan refused to agree to the ambiguous treaty set
forth at Vienna, France marched out and joined the Russian cause. The
other nations were shocked but realized that the time had come to solve the
Eastern Question. Austria hurried to join the Russian alliance and secure
influence on lands soon to be liberated in the Balkans. Prussia, with
nothing to gain, maintained its neutrality. Britain alone stood alongside
the Ottomans, attempting to maintain status quo in the Middle East.

The Eastern War dragged on for
three years, Alexander II succeeding his father in 1855. Despite the
clear military advantage of the Franco-Russo-Austrian alliance, they were
beleaguered by antiquated leadership. French forces liberated Egypt and
then became cut off by British naval superiority in the Mediterranean.
The British were able to shell French fortifications from sea, but could make
no headway and faced humiliations such as the Charge of the Light Brigade at
the Battle of Tunis. In the Balkans, trains and telegraphy proved
effective, but the masses of troops in movement brought unprecedented levels of
disease. Photography enabled an explosion of war-journalism, which
ultimately contributed to the disgust of the public. Britain suffered a
"snowball riot" on January 21, 1855, when protesters threw snowballs
and eventually had to be quelled by soldiers.

Due to the unpopularity of the war,
Britain began discussing peace through Prussia as an arbiter for peace in
1856. The Ottoman Empire was shrunk to Asia Minor, and its many provinces
became nation-states while Palestine was granted a special international
protectorate status to preserve rights to Catholicism and Orthodoxy
there. No sooner had the diplomats signed the documents than the
industrialists swarmed into the region, attempting to dominate new
markets. France with its heavy influence in Egypt had a head start in the
Middle East and began construction on the lucrative Suez Canal as soon as the
war was over. Britain reinforced relations with Persia as a buffer for
its colonies in India. In the Balkans, the Austrians and Russians
attempted to exert control over the new nations. When the Austro-Prussian
War began in 1866, Russia and Italy contributed, tearing the empire apart much
as had been done to the Ottomans. Italy affirmed itself with the Third
War of Unification adding Venice, and Prussia formed a German Empire out of its
German Confederation, seizing extensive lands from the fallen Austrians.

For two generations, enormous
empires sprawled over Europe. France and Britain competed abroad while
Germany and Russia divided Eastern Europe. New major world powers arose
as Japan defeated Russia in the Pacific, and the United States made a tour of
its Great White Fleet. The empires came to battle after the assassination
of German Crown Prince William in 1914 by a secret society bent on ending
exterior influence in the Balkans while he was touring Sarajevo. Germany
invaded Serbia, Russia moved in to protect it, prompting its ally France to
move on Germany. Britain came in as an ally against France, spreading the
war over the globe. Eventually Germany defeated Russia, sparking a civil
war that would lead to a new Communist regime, ideas which spread to France's
many lost colonies and to France itself, creating a Second World which came
into an ideological Cold War with the First.

--

In reality, France entered the war
on the side of the Ottomans, adding 400,000 troops against the Russians. The
allies staged an invasion of Russia at the Crimean Peninsula, which proved a
stalemate at best as both sides lost more soldiers to disease than fighting.Modern nursing, the naval use of torpedoes,
and blind artillery fire are said to come out of the war, which effectually
kept the status quo in Europe until the unification of Germany in 1871.